Social Haunting: talking to the ghosts of our past

Can our communities’ pasts haunt us? Are there traces of ideas and ways of living from that past that are not simply done and gone, but could be brought to life again? And how does the past impress itself on us in the present?

Social Haunting: talking to the ghosts of our past is a new radio documentary about an ambitious research project that uses arts practice to explore the idea of “social haunting.” You can hear it at 9am on Wednesday 10th February, here on Sheffield Live.

A “social haunting” is said to occur in circumstances where there’s been repression or trouble in society and as a result, the past presses in to the present in ways that aren’t obviously visible.

“Ghosts” appear when the pressing concerns of the past have not been attended to.

The Working with Social Haunting project explored the usefulness of this concept with two groups of people, those involved in the cooperative movement in Lancashire, and in trade unionism in the former coalfields of South Yorkshire.

The 30 minute radio documentary Social Haunting: Talking To The Ghosts Of Our Past will be broadcast on Sheffield Live radio (93.2FM and online) on Wednesday, 10th February at 9am.

Tune in to the show – and engage with the programme’s producer, Max Munday on twitter: #socialhauntinglive and @mouthpiece4shef and on Facebook (On social media, please do not refer by name to any of the participants who you may know; comments will be moderated).